Youthbuild Program Benefits Students, Community

WDI Youthbuild Instructor Daryl Kiesow, center, supervises the work of students Landen Tuma and Nicholas Bisping.

Wearing safety glasses and work boots, with a tool belt strapped around his waist, Landen Tuma moved purposefully around the Northfield Area Learning Center’s outdoor work site, located behind the former Longfellow Elementary School. The Northfield tenth-grader was part of a team of students getting paid to learn on the job. The project at hand on that cloudy spring day? Building two raised garden containers for the ALC’s garden club.

“This is the first one like this. It took about twelve or thirteen hours to build,” Tuma said, as he applied wood filler to the screw holes of the nearly completed garden bed. “It’s a learning process. We’re learning a lot about the equipment, and how to turn angles. It turned out a lot better than we expected.”

Tuma was among the first group of students to participate in the new WDI Youthbuild program that launched last fall in Rice County. During the 2021-22 school year, about a dozen students from Northfield and Faribault participated in a variety of building and construction-related projects.

The program is a partnership with Workforce Development Inc., a nonprofit agency that serves job seekers and employers throughout southeastern Minnesota.

WDI Youthbuild Instructor Daryl Kiesow was hired last fall to supervise the construction activities. The goal is to have eight to 10 students per class at both the Northfield and Faribault locations, keeping it small for safety reasons. Participants must be ages 16 to 24 to participate, but they don’t need to be ALC students.

Law Enforcement Program Grows

Iris Reyes Mijares has driven thousands of miles in the past few years in pursuit of her dream of becoming a law enforcement officer. The Riverland Community College student and 2020 Northfield High School alumna is excited that other students from Northfield and the surrounding area can now benefit from a more convenient local option: taking law enforcement classes from Riverland faculty at the Northfield Community College Collaborative (NCCC).

“It was a struggle driving back and forth from Northfield to Austin, and vice versa, for almost one hour and twenty minutes one way, but I knew it would all be worth it at the end. That’s what kept me going,” said Mijares, who plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Metro State University once she graduates from Riverland in 2023. 

“When I found out about the law enforcement program that the NCCC was offering, I was so happy to see that other students wouldn’t have to struggle as much as I did. I’m glad that’s an option students have to continue their careers.”

The law enforcement program launched at the NCCC in August 2021 and is a collaboration between the NCCC, Riverland Community College, and the Northfield Police Department. Students can take most of their classes from Riverland faculty at the NCCC, located on the second floor of the Northfield Community Resource Center, 1651 Jefferson Parkway, instead of having to travel to the Riverland locations in Austin or Owatonna.

Let’s Master Money!

Brekken Modory prepares to enter the “money tornado.”

The Northfield High School auditorium turned into a game show set in May as seniors competed for money, prizes, and the applause of their classmates.

Kurt Halverson, financial literacy education specialist for HomeTown Credit Union, played the role of emcee for “Let’s Master Money,” a fun competition designed to test students’ knowledge of topics like budgeting and credit. The show on May 10 was a culmination of topics Halverson had presented to seniors in two earlier College and Career Readiness sessions.

“It’s always been my dream to develop a game show about financial wellness,” Halverson said before the event. “I want students to have fun and enjoy the experience.”

Halverson organized the game show with help from Northfield Promise Alumni Coordinator Candace Godfrey. He also built a money hurricane machine for the finale, using instructions from a YouTube video and materials purchased from Menards.

Family Friends Neighbors (FFN) grant 

Growing Up Healthy is one of 18 organizations in Minnesota to receive a grant supporting family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) childcare.

This new round of state grants recognizes the grandparents, relatives, friends and neighbors who care for children in diverse communities across Minnesota, often without the resources available to licensed child care providers.

Growing Up Healthy's grant was a part of $2.9 million awarded for community organizations to provide training and support for family, friends and neighbors who offer child care for the youngest Minnesotans. The Minnesota Department of Human Services will distribute grants to organizations serving unlicensed family, friend and neighbor child care providers.

For more details and a list of all the grantees, click here.

Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers are an important resource as our communities in Rice County work to ensure that all children are ready for kindergarten. Through the FFN grant, Growing Up Healthy is seeking to engage with local community partners to support FFN caregivers in their role caring for children. 

If you're a Rice County community partner interested in learning more about connecting FFN providers and children with your programs, email navigator@healthycommunityinitiative.org or call/text 507-301-6345.

ACES Coming to Northfield

ACES (Athletes Committed to Educating Students) is expanding to Greater Minnesota and is launching a pilot program this fall at Northfield Middle School. Drawing on the power of sport, ACES will provide innovative academic and social-emotional after-school programming to youth in grades 6-8 in partnership with Northfield Public Schools and HCI.

Learn more about it here.

Also, please spread the word about this employment opportunity! ACES is hiring a Northfield Site Coordinator to lead this pilot program. Learn more and apply here.